Sharpen your pastels!

Pastel Sharp is an innovative new artist's tool that makes sharpening pastels easy and precise and will save money by virtually eliminating breakage and greatly reducing sharpening waste. Pastel Sharp uses no blades and is not an electric sharpener. Instead, you precisely sharpen your pastels on the special abrasive surface which is guaranteed to last for as long as you own your Pastel Sharp. Cleaning the Pastel Sharp is as easy as cleaning the crumbs from the catch trays in your toaster. We're certain that, once you've tried the Pastel Sharp, you'll never look at your craft knives and razor blades quite the same way again!

Sharpen Without Blades

​You can finally put away those finger-slicing craft knives and razor blades. Pastel Sharp is the safest and easiest way to sharpen your pastels. No blood-letting required.

Precise Sharpness Control

Easily sharpen your pastels to as fine or wide a point as you need for your project. You have complete control and can quickly revise the shape of your pastel tip as you desire.

Eliminate Breakage & Waste

You know how expensive pastels are. Electric sharpeners tend to break pastels and blades are imprecise and messy. With pastel sharp, you only whittle away what you want.

Pastel Sharp is as simple as it is revolutionary. While we could endlessly extol the virtues of Pastel Sharp, it's probably better to just show you exactly how it works. ​The accompanying video demonstrates the ease of sharpening pastels with Pastel Sharp as well as the ease of emptying the sharpening waste.

Ready to stop risking your fingers to those awful blade sharpeners? Time to buy a Pastel Sharp!

Pastel Sharp is the brainchild of local artist and occasional inventor, Leonard Gibson. Leonard recounts the story behind the creation of Pastel Sharp:

Some years ago I made the decision to paint. I signed up for a class in Naples, Florida using pastels as the medium. During my time in that class, it became obvious to me that there was a need for a better device to sharpen the hard pastels I enjoyed so much. No special tool existed for this purpose and instead artists were left to use knives and razor blades. These tools are slow, messy, frequently dangerous, and don't always make it easy to get a sharp edge for finely detailed art work.

​Accordingly, I invented the PASTEL SHARP tool to help artists be better painters by focusing on the painting rather than distracting themselves sharpening their pastels. The PASTEL SHARP replaces the knives and blades most artists currently use to sharpen their pastels. With just a few easy strokes across the abrading surface of the PASTEL SHARP, the pastel chalk edge is shaped into an edge, a point, or a chisel. Instead of the usual pastel chips and dust covering the artist's work surface and other pastels, the PASTEL SHARP traps the dust under the abrading surface and stores it until the unit is emptied (not unlike emptying the crumb tray in a standard toaster). The PASTEL SHARP has the added benefit of keeping the artist’s fingers clean (since they don't come into contact with the pastel shavings) keeping unwanted color smudges away from the canvas and other pastels. The PASTEL SHARP can also be used to sharpen pastel pencils which are notoriously fickle during sharpening and shaping.

The PASTEL SHARP is a small, beautiful box that is easily transported with the rest of the artist's tool kit. When you are ready to step out of the studio, the PASTEL SHARP comes with a tight gasketed lid for traveling. Pastel dust is contained in the bottom of the device and the lid keeps it in place. Each PASTEL SHARP is handmade right here in the USA and is guaranteed to last a lifetime under normal use. If you are looking to improve your pastel painting by getting a crisp edge or fine point every time you need one, then the PASTEL SHARP is the tool for you.

Thank you for visiting our website and your interest in the revolutionary Pastel Sharp artist's sharpening tool. We're always delighted to hear from our customers. If you have any questions, would like to send us feedback, or would just like to say hi, please don't hesitate to drop us an email note via the form below. If you are running an art supplies store and would like to inquire about wholesale pricing for quantity purchases, send us a note and we'll get back to you within 24 hours.